Life is Beautiful -- for Path of Positivity Challenge Blog

It's the first Monday of the month, and that means there's a new challenge starting today at the Path of Positivity Challenge Blog.  Our optional theme this month (surprise, surprise) is 'love'.  Or, you can link up any inspirational project you make, all month long!

Our sponsor this month is Beccy's Place, and I had the pleasure of working with an image and sentiment from the Shabby Chic Roses digital stamp set.

This is my husband's Valentine's Day card.  He loves birds and bird houses, and I thought this sentiment spoke volumes about our 35 years of marriage:

I colored the birdhouse from the Shabby Chic Roses set with Copic markers.  The sentiment, also from the Shabby Chic Roses set, was printed directly onto the designer paper from the Poppy Collection at Heartfelt Creations. 

I used a sketch from The Outlawz Wednesday Sketch Challenge on this card.  Here's the sketch:

I hope you find time to enter the challenge this month at the Path of Positivity Challenge Blog.  With Valentine's Day being this month, I'm guessing many of us having 'Love' projects for the optional 'love' theme.  I'd love to see your creations!

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:
Outlawz Wednesday Sketch Challenge -- ends Feb. 5
D.L. Art -- February Linky Party
Word Art Wednesday -- ATG
Beccy's Place Challenge -- ATG

I Love Winter! for Sasayaki Glitter Stamps by Naz

I love Winter!  I also love coloring up the delightful images of Sasayaki Glitter Stamps by Naz. She has the sweetest digis to play with!  Today's is no exception!

There's a new challenge starting today on the Sasayaki Glitter Challenge Blog, with the theme of 'hearts & stars'.  You can use either or both.  I chose a heart for today's card:

This is Valentine Snowman, colored with Copic markers.  I made the card base, cutting it out on my Silhouette Cameo 3 with a file I found in the Silhouette Design Store.  The papers are from We Are 3 Digital Shop (snowflake paper) and AMB Illustrations (heart paper).  The teal shimmer trim is from Close To My Heart.

There are many adorable images in the Sasayaki Glitter Stamps by Naz shop that fit the Stars or Hearts theme, and the Sasayaki Glitter challenge runs until March 2, so I really hope you find time to join us!  I'd love to see what you create.

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:
The Holly and the Ivy -- AT Christmas Goes
Addicted to Stamps -- Snowman
Dragonfly Dreams -- include a heart
The Paper Players Challenge -- Love is in the Air
Outlawz Twisted Thursday -- die cuts

Sweet Birthday Wishes -- Stella Says Sketch at Bugaboo

There's a new Stella Says Sketch starting today on the Catch the Bug Blog at Bugaboo Stamps.  What Stella says, I do.  So, I sketched!

Here's the sketch I used -- You'll see how closely I followed it:

I used Birthday Cake (only $1!) and colored it with some bright, birthday colored Copic markers.

The blue dotted paper on this card is a New Release from We Are 3 Digital Shop.  It's one of the Baking Cookies digital papers.  The sentiment, also from We Are 3,  is one of the newly released Itty Bitty - Sweet Sentiments. 

When Stella Says Sketch, she's talking to you, too, so I hope you can join in the fun!  The challenge goes for 2 weeks.  You have through February 16 to link up with Stella at Catch the Bug! Stella offers wonderful prizes, even if she is tough!

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

D.L. Art -- February Linky Party

AUD Sentiment -- ATG with a Sentiment

Outlawz Festive Friday -- birthday

Seize the Birthday -- ATG

Sweet Birthday Heart -- for Dies R Us

I'm happily posting today for Dies R Us Inspiration Blog. I love my opportunities to play with my way-too-large collection of fun dies! Valentine's Day is just around the corner, but I wanted to show you that those heart dies are good for more than just Valentine cards.  I use them all year long.  For today's post, I made a sweet birthday card using a heart shaped card base and layered hearts.  Take a look:

I started with the largest heart die in my collection, which happens to be this lattice die from Spellbinders, but Frantic Stamper has a beautiful one, too, that would work the same way.   I cut the die 3 times - once, with ocean colored paper, once with spun sugar paper, then again, folded in 1/2 and a portion of the paper NOT in the die to get the fold on the card.  I did this with the same spun sugar colored paper so if it didn't line up exactly, it would be less likely to show (a trick I've learned through the years).

The sentiment is computer generated.  It's a New Release sentiment from We Are 3 Digital Shop. I started a tutorial using the sentiment "Sweet Day", then changed my mind 1/2 way through the project and made this into a birthday card, so please excuse the shift in the tutorial here.

First step, I print the sentiment on white copy paper, sizing it what I think will work.  Print.  Place heart over sentiment.  If it fits.  Yea!  If it doesn't, adjust size and print on copy paper again.  When you have the size correct, tape the color card stock onto the white copy paper you plan to use.  It looks like this:

White copy paper is an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet.  The pink card stock is probably 3 x 4 inches.  Send this through your printer again.  Next, die cut with the heart:

I tape my die cuts down with washi tape.  It's easy to remove, and doesn't remove paper or ink (most of the time).  Once I have things centered the way I want it, and taped how I like it, I send it through my die cutting machine.  That step is done!

The floral heart frame is a die from Cheapo dies.  I cut it a total of 3 times.  I cut it once out of Pixie (pink), once out of purple, cutting out 2 flowers in that color, and once out of ocean, cutting out 2 flowers out of that color.  Then, I glued them all to the floral heart frame using the Best Glue Ever.

That's it!  A birthday heart-shaped card is complete!

Here's a list of the products I used on today's project, with the links:

                             Frantic Stamper Lattice Heart     Cheapo Dies Floral Heart Frame

                                                Best Glue Ever        Elizabeth Craft Dies - Fitted Hearts 

Don't forget to come join in the fun at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.  There's a new challenge theme offered on the 1st and 15th of each month and one lucky randomly drawn winner will receive a gift voucher prize to the Dies R Us Store.  For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us links are provided below.

click below for:

STORE 
 CHALLENGE BLOG
  FACEBOOK
  INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

Thanks for visiting... hope to see you again soon, Have a great day.

My Best Friends are Flakes -- for Bugaboo Stamps

It's February!  It's Saturday!  And there's a new challenge starting today at Catch the Bug Challenges.  The challenge is Anything Goes.

I used the very fun Snowmen & Friends Duo to create this:

The Snowmen and  Friends Duo comes with a pre-colored image, too, if you just want to create, not color, but I used the black and white version and colored it with Copic markers.  I love to color snowmen, so why cheat myself out of the fun!

The sentiment on this card is from We Are 3 Digital Shop.  It is one of the Snow Days sentiments. Papers are from AMB Illustrations. 

The new challenge at Catch the Bug Challenge Blog will go for one week, so get busy with those creations!  I'd love to see what you make! 

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:
Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge -- die cuts
Polkadoodle -- ATG
Jo's Scrap Shack -- ATG
AUD Sentiment -- ATG with a sentiment
D.L. Art -- February Linky Party

Merry, Merry -- for the 12 Months of Christmas Link Up

Feb. 1 -- a new month, a new link up at the 12 Months of Christmas!  There's an optional penguin theme going on this month, and our awesome sponsor, Bugaboo Stamps, has many wonderful Penguin digis to color up, including this absolute cutie, Ornaments Penguin!

I colored up Ornaments Penguin with Copic markers.  The adorable penguin background paper is from Decosse Dynamite Doodles.  It is 2 papers from the Penguin Pals mini paper kit. 

I used this week's sketch from Sketch Saturday to help me design this card.  Here's the sketch: 

I hope you can join us this month at the 12 Months of Christmas Link Up for our optional Penguin theme -- or link up any Christmas card you make.  Link up 2 cards for your chance to win one of these awesome penguin papers!

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday -- week #548
Outlawz Festive Fridays -- Christmas
ABC Christmas Challenge -- AT Christmas Goes
Christmas at Sweet Stamping -- AT Christmas Goes
Cute N Crafty Christmas -- ATG

You Have My Heart -- for SheepSki Designs

It's February 1st (already!), and that means it's time for a new challenge at the SheepSki Designs Challenge Blog. This month, the theme is "All You Need is Love".  

I used the beautiful image, Heart & Rose:

I colored up Heart & Rose with Copic markers, then fussy cut the image.

Papers & Sentiment on this card are from We Are 3 Digital Shop.  The sentiment is from the Valentines sentiment set. The paper directly behind the Heart & Rose image is from the Hearts in Love paper collection.  The teal dots paper is from the A Touch of Teal Collection. 

The challenge at SheepSki Designs Challenge blog goes for the month of February, so you have 28 days to enter your "All You Need is Love" project.  Join us!

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:
Dies R Us Challenge Blog -- New (Elizabeth Craft Scalloped Heart die)
Scrapyland Challenge Blog -- ATG (Elizabeth Craft die)
Outlawz Sunday Songs & Rhymes -- Roses are Red
Pattie's Creations -- Love